Why Is Diablo 4 SO BAD?!

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Diablo 4 has sold more copies in it's opening month than any of Blizzard's other games. But does this success mean the game is any good? Well, no... And in this video I'm gonna tell you why.
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___TIME STAMPS___
Introduction - 0:00
Minor Complaints - 3:32
Fatal Flaw #1: Difficulty - 4:43
Scaling Difficulty Ruins the Open-World - 8:53
A Dark Tone Makes No Sense - 12:30
Fatal Flaw #2 Skills - 16:36
Camera & Side Content - 20:12
Dumb Stats, Boring Loot - 24:40
Gold is Worthless… in an RPG?! - 28:51
Story - 31:17
Conclusion - 41:22
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[@TheActMan]

Try Rocket Money for free: rocketmoney.com/actman #rocketmoney #personalfinance Diablo 4 has sold more copies in it's opening month than any of Blizzard's other games. But does this success mean the game is any good? Well, no... And in this video I'm gonna tell you why.

[@icanthrow5405]

S

[@sunshine_bypolar8769]

No

[@2Node]

ok?

[@andrewscowden5781]

Nice

[@shanpelletier3721]

Noooo !!!

[@48d2fae6d0da]

On the difficulty: its like getting more job experience and earning more money and finding out all the prices just scales with your salary.

[@callsignfatbeard2637]

That’s a really good analogy

[@rabbitcreative]

> getting more job experience and earning more money and finding out all the prices just scales with your salary. So 'inflation' is like level-scaling I.R.L?

[@TheActMan]

LMAO accurate

[@user-ch4yf8kc9v]

sounds a lot like real life tbh

[@senorpoodles1755]

Sounds like what's going on with inflation right now

[@Occam601]

It’s weird how in the game industry even if a game makes a billion gajillion bucks it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good, back in the day I felt like a game making good money was a sign of quality.

[@wastelandlegocheem]

Used to, yeah. Then again we had underrated gems

[@Deezsirrer]

Lack of talented dev cause you are not going to computer school to make me a diablo 7 to play by now smh

[@TheWow1323]

How the turntables. Nowadays the games that arent making tons and cashing in on players are the best ones to check out and a sign of love and quality. Take Dead Island 2 for example, it didnt sell fuckloads nor was it ridden with microtransactions, but it was quality and the most consistent, bug-free AAA(felt like a polished indie tho) release in the year.

[@Yourchill_icecream]

Same here, but now, it’s first hand experience, in order to see the quality.

[@wastelandlegocheem]

@@MO_Disk hmmm well for the most part yeah, people knew wgat they wanted n all that. You're spot on

[@stanbartsch1984]

So my daughter asked what I wanted for my birthday this year, and I told her I was looking at either Baldur's Gate 3 or Diablo IV. I'd never played Baldur's Gate before, but I LOVED Diablo, so I told her I'd probably like Diablo IV better. Well, the more I play Diablo IV, the more I come to the conclusion that I would've been happier with Baldur's Gate 3.

[@philhelm1318]

If you haven't played Baldur's Gate before, you should play Baldur's Gate I & 2, and Icewind Dale.

[@adhdflipper9066]

To this day, I still remember first time opening the Butcher’s door on lvl 2 , sh*tting my pants/ having a heart attack, dying immediately, then realizing how undergeared/underleveled I was… such a memorable moment , all these years later I didn’t forget. Such solid points act man! Gave up D3 after only like 100 hours, wouldn’t touch D4 with my 10 foot..

[@NV..V]

Fresh Meat.....

[@workman3407]

I'm most impressed this man was able to explain about all the problems in the game without once mentioning Path of Exile... That deserves an award.

[@justincider8892]

I played PoE for like half a year. It was way better imo.

[@TheActMan]

Never played Path of Exile or seen gameplay of it lolol

[@kyledodson2992]

He really sticks to mainstream games in most cases (halo, COD etc)

[@viniciuscarvalho15]

@@TheActMan if u liked diablo 2 over diablo 3, PoE is THE ARPG for you

[@blindfire3167]

@@viniciuscarvalho15 PoE is too complex and annoying for most people to get into. The simplicity that Blizzard gives with its building paths without needing to follow a spreadsheet over whether or not +1.2% damage or +.8 fire damage talent is better because they lead to completely separate parts of the tree. Plus doing the EXACT SAME story over and over each season without any changes is just zzz

[@imnackeredsirnackered948]

I am not a fan of level scaling. I enjoy going into an area and seeing shit like 10 levels higher and being like "Nope" and ditching. I feel like part of the achievement is entering an area that I wanted to for a while but can only enter once I reach the level requirements. Also it's fun to sometimes challenge your self by going into a higher level area and trying out the mobs or a boss.

[@phillippatryndal4255]

AFAIK you can still go into higher level areas - they only scale up, not down?

[@DachshundDogStarluck19]

Same. Level-scaling is so bad.

[@yt_nh9347]

level scaling is ok because they dont scale with glyphs or paragon points which are much more powerful than your base stat gains from leveling will ever be. Which means you will eventually completely smash through open world or "scaled" content anyways. Scaling allows for new players to not feel left out in the presence of end game players, although note that even WITH SCALING some classes are melting world bosses in 3 seconds before anyone else even gets in.

[@HumanPerson_final]

Same. When I play Diablo 3, I skip directly the highest tier I can and increase the tier as I level (if I remember right. Been a while). I hate hand-holding in games. Let players struggle. That’s part of the point.

[@jaylowry4082]

When Blizz started implementing level scaling as a means to give challenge to players in WoW I knew something was wrong. Why would I ever downgrade myself or scale enemies up to me to give challenge? The whole meaning is to get powerful and see the difference in how far we came in an RPG.

[@mildchaos6037]

I was wondering why I wasn’t enjoying the game after 20 hours or so. You explained everything perfectly. I kept hoping the fun part would start, it never did

[@Oath_Bringer]

@@erikbengt1074That’s because you haven’t finished the campaign. Wait til you get to level 65-70 and literally the only thing to do is farm the same nightmare dungeon over and over. The endgame content for a game that is supposed to be 90% about the endgame is pitiful at best.

[@DrayLoco]

@@erikbengt1074just because you enjoy a game doesn’t mean others can’t critique it and say it’s bad.

[@danielfonville1840]

Yeah the game is pretty fun I’m close to max

[@ProbeGT2]

Same here, i've played for 25 hours, was asking myself why i'm not thrilled to play the game. Then started to skip fights and just run and then i knew i was bored to death. I think it's because you can do too much side stuff right at the begining, and the side stuff is boring as F.

[@renefonck8920]

Yeah worse than said because at one point I felt like my caracter was regressing@@Oath_Bringer

[@trevorburke8660]

I had the opposite problem, but the same outcome, with the scaling. I found Diablo 4 to be a little too tough, especially when trying to solo a dungeon, and no matter how much I leveled or how much I upgraded my gear, I never felt like I was getting any stronger, so I never felt like I was getting anywhere. This was at launch and I didn't play for more than a few days, so maybe it was made easier or something, but yeah, opposite problem, but same outcome

[@ProbeGT2]

Try a necromancer and use the minions. All you have to do is sit back and relax.

[@mjdibella]

@@ProbeGT2…and wait for the next round of nerfs to destroy your build. Yeah….no. I am going to wait another year and look at it then. Let’s see if the devs finally get it properly balanced and stop fiddling with it. Until then, all we are is beta testers who are paying for the dubious privilege.

[@Marvellann]

The problem with the world scaling with your level is exactly that. If you are really unlucky and don't receive any good loot the world outlevels you. If you don't use your skill points optimally the world outlevels you. If you choose a shitty endgame class the world outlevels you. With your increasing level you are getting weaker and the creatures in the starting level will kill you. 0 power progress.

[@Beanie28]

Maybe it’s skill issue but I had the same issue with ranged rouge, any crowd control and I’m instantly dead and some enemies just won’t die and others instant kill

[@GX-105D]

yeah gaining levels is noob in D4, the more you level, the harder they hit but no power gain on your end because gearing up is too slow, the key to surviving is doing the damn alters

[@sekiko7183]

Blizzard is the definition of "disappointment".

[@Error-el3er]

Yea yea

[@BOOMER-qg7uv]

And Apathy

[@Error-el3er]

@@BOOMER-qg7uv Apathy is death

[@ICE-BREAKER-9000]

*I thought that was Rockstar…* *Fanboys/girls incoming to defend*

[@Fantasygod930]

Disappointment and corrupted greed it's my definition for blizzard

[@TimeBucks]

he scaling makes it feel totally pointless

[@sachinnath770]

Good

[@atishchaudhary3321]

Super

[@sreejithmohanan5027]

👍🏻

[@luckycharmAliyanmamakijan]

👍

[@cosmicabyss7358]

He scaling

[@althausz1]

The thing that I have a problem with the most in this game and a ton of modern games is the enemy scaling up with you. It robs me of all the joy of spending time making my characters stronger. Seems like every game has to be open world

[@GX-105D]

yeah, scaling really fucks up the balance, but they do it to prevent bots from selling gold

[@larrylindgren9484]

Wouldn't bd bad if it was an option. You are playing with a new friend. You click a button and now you are his or her level and can play together. But to force and you really never get stronger is bad design. If you get unluckily with a drop, you level up the Mob levels up, but your damage doesn't. You get weaker instead of treading water so to speak. As you level you should never be treading water. Make the lower mobs worthless. Ok. But don't make them as strong as they were when I was level 1 and I'm now level 100.

[@GX-105D]

@@larrylindgren9484 that's why wow is broken, they do the same thing in wow these days

[@voiavictor]

What do you mean? Level scaling is great for wow leveling. It's not the same thing.​@GX-105D

[@GX-105D]

@@voiavictor no it's not, it's not done reight, there's no sense of power progression over time, which is why they're no longer keeping new players, the balance of level scaling is very bad, i mean if you out level just one piece of gear, you feeel stupidly weak

[@tobim2850]

The funny thing regarding the gold problem is, in the end game it flips around, but still stays a huge problem xD During leveling or first 3 world tiers, like you said, you don't need the gold at all, but once you find good "bases" in wt 4 and need to start rerolling a stat, the entire gold farmed in the complete playthrough and hours of dungeons is gone in seconds without sometimes even hitting the correct stat..

[@AkiyamaMioSempai]

I remember spending around 100m+ gold on a ring and not getting anything. I got so pissed I just threw the ring away. Don't even bother selling or salvaging it

[@larrylindgren9484]

Why be able to reroll a stat? It should be a drop. Kill X and maybe you get it. Not roll them bones and lady luck reward you. That darn right terrible game design. then add in here's my money to do it is worse. Making is so spendy doesn't make it more fun or even more exciting a reward if you win the random number generator.

[@BananaMana69]

To add to your point about NPCs in Diablo 2 once you finish an act and go back everyone treats you with reverance. I always loved that, made you feel like you were really progressing and becoming more powerful.

[@PenguinDynasty]

excellent point, amazing how modern games often fail to use such a simple but powerful concept/design

[@BananaMana69]

@@PenguinDynasty Yeah, its one or two extra lines for a handful of NPCs, not much effort for what it adds to the experience.

[@suddenllybah]

Hell, D2 shows that you can make 4 sets of interesting characters. Act 4 was kinda a disaster. Townwise.

[@sepg5084]

​@@Mikitanfox1in terms of atmosphere, D1 is the best out of all diablos. It really embodied "less is more". I still play it sometimes, like once in 5 years. In terms of combat, D3 has good combat where you actually had to dodge stuff and learn how a monster fights, but they powercrept everything so much that somehow the player is doing billions of damage. D1 and D2 didn't have to do that. Plus D3's itemization is kinda meh. I stopped playing after i completed the Malthael campaign. D2 had worse combat than D3, but is way better than D1. D2 at least managed to keep the numbers and itemization in control, though i think Enigma should have never been created and unique items should have been somewhat competitive with runewords. I still play D2R from time to time. I did not bother playing D4, i don't want to support a company that ruins their own franchises anymore.

[@bakedbeings]

@@PenguinDynastyThe power of meetings! It takes many sessions of gathering around your team lead, hearing again what's been decided at a layer above your head, and being gradually gaslighted into believing you aren't good at your job if you can't make [player frustrating/hostile decision] work.

[@JoeRochinski]

This video is insanely depressing because it's all true. The biggest stab was the showcase of D1 NPCs talking about the Butcher. I remember all those conversations. I remember the NPC's names. I haven't played that shit in a quarter century. I don't even remember what I did in D4 last night. For all of D3's faults and missteps, at least I remember the damned boss fights.

[@gustavogoesgomes1863]

when he asked about the blacksmith's names, I could only recall griswold and charsi by name. but I still remember all the other blacksmiths and where they stayed in town. I even remembered how the pandemonium fortress's blacksmith greeted you with the VERY iconic "hail to you champion" 😆

[@sagan08]

dude....no bs, but that "fresh meat"...I will remember til the day I die

[@deeloc5500]

its fkin pointles to have butcher in d4...

[@markjackman1712]

I feel blessed to have been around to play wow in its prime with lots of friends logging on to experience the same content together. It feels like now there are so many games available and patches and balance updates seem to get released hourly for games which were released yesterday, and because theres so much choice (not neccesarily a bad thing) it feels hard to find a game which sticks around long enough (remains relevant) to build up and retain its community, i feel like there will never be another experience like wow in its prime

[@MF-bl6ed]

D1 and D2, you will forever live on in our hearts. Thank you for being in our lives

[@nocturneuh]

Amen 🙏 miss the old Blizzard.

[@juakored]

Like it's been said before, Blizzard never fails to disappoint.

[@gonzalomeadearanda5751]

you could say, Aheam!.... It never disapont to disapoint!

[@noranizaazmi6523]

@@gonzalomeadearanda5751disappoints to disappoint (my brain cells are melting ever since i wrote dissapoonts)

[@ZayxSt]

They really got us when the game launched, everything seemed just too good, it was incredible. Then you reach endgame and you realize what's the real gameplay behind it

[@jaymethysell5111]

It's sad. Blizzard used to be the example that you wanted every game company to live up to.

[@jeroen5736]

ye working as intended !

[@iNFAMOUSxHAVOC]

As a die-hard Diablo fan, I couldn’t figure out how to articulate my problems with the game, and your video, especially the, “Name one Blacksmith” line, finally brought together all my feelings towards this game. As I take an early hiatus of the game, which feels so weird to say about a game that just came out, I just hope the devs get a grip and hear you and all the other voices saying the game needs a proper redesign.

[@NTJedi]

I agree... but convincing a developer about a mistake in their game is as rare as convincing a real demon to fight for the forces of good. It's that rare.

[@ZerglingOne1]

Meanwhile D2 Charsi Fara Hratli Halbu Larzuk Only Halbu took me a second, since Jamella is the far more memorable NPC in act 4. Every other character is utterly iconic. You enter the rogue encampment and you meet a cute barbarian girl who plays a major part in your success, giving you a rare item that can really help you get through act 1 in the base game. You go to act 2, and the blacksmith is also the healer! That makes Fara incredibly important in act 2, arguably the most important NPC there. In act 3, Hratli is the first to welcome you to Kurast. Halbu as described before is pretty forgettable, but that's more likely due to act 4 being only half-done. Larzuk is of course, very memorable due to the socketing quest. And all but Halbu have memorable interactions. D4 has nothing like that.

[@Snake369]

MAn i played for like two hours. thought the graphics and everything looked really sweet, then logged off to stare at a wall. sad

[@joshuapetty6800]

@@ZerglingOne1Even Diablo 3 had Haedrig Eamon who I can distinctly remember putting down his wife with. And finding his “fool apprentice” that ran off into the wilds with something he nicked from the smithery.

[@retroripple]

@@NTJedithat’s because it’s about convincing the people at the top who aren’t actual developers!

[@kmacdougall84]

I think you hit the nail on the head with the enemy level scaling taking away from the "incentive" of completing the game leaving you feeling like nothing matters. Thanks for that!

[@yuimitsui9817]

Omg yes, so agree with all of the above. The scaling frustrated me differently as there was a miniboss i just just couldnt get past with my glasscannon mage... it was so frustrating. Two points I'd like to add: 1.) Why does D4 force me to share the open world with other players all of the time, being a narrative driven game? It's so hard to get into the mood on a serious quest when a pink barbarian, figuratively, teabags the lich king in the background. So why can't you decide between an open or closed world? 2.) Why is there no global chat or an easy way to find parties? Whats the point in making it open world without a decent way to interact and trade?

Oblivion and Skyrim had a scaling difficulty but there was also a level cap. For example Oblivion's town guards were always at least 5 levels above the player, but caped at 70, meaning they were eventually became beatable but rarely pushovers.

[@ishid_anfarded_king]

Except for the shitty magic anomalies that scale at 1.75x your player level

[@saldabest]

​@@ishid_anfarded_kingimagine a magical anomaly beating fucking Miraak because it scaled with you lmfao

[@Lonewanderer30]

Strange, I always found the guards to be pushovers, no matter what level I was.

[@maulressurected4405]

Skyrims spell system suffered though especially after Dragonborn dlc.

[@collinsmcrae]

Level scaling sucked in those games as well, and those games sucked ass as a result, for fans of Morrowind. D4s scaling is actually much better. Overworld content is largely irrelevant, and your gear and paragon make a huge difference. You definitely grow in power in the game.

[@braindead5283]

In Diablo 2 and 3, I was never too worried about regular mobs, but when the champions with prefixes or suffixes turned up, that's when things got interesting

[@gavinziozios1431]

Anything with Arcane Enchanted can royally suck it. If you didn't have something to counter the arcane damage, it would eat away your health so fast it would make a speed running monk blush

[@immewingatm]

Dog Diablo 3 was a fuckin snore fest until you hit like T7 and then it was just "1 shot or be 1 shot". Don't play pretend with enemies being a boring mess until ranks so high that only the dopamine addicts and ladder bros cared to get to

[@ZombieJWR]

​@@gavinziozios1431I hated thorns enemies since if you don't notice your health is just gone

[@grimmow187]

people will always go back to d2, happened with 3, gona happen with 4.

[@jajasking9652]

​@@ZombieJWRthorns enemies just sucks in every single game they are in

[@petemaddocks8660]

Totally agree, kept waiting for more, theb realised it wasn't going to happen. The biggest thing my friends and I missed was the need to work together to achieve something. Teamwork is entirely redundant.

[@NewCandyCane]

Man the old Paragon tree (23:32) designed looked awesome! Compare to what we got... Also this, 23:43 ... I cannot believe how many times I've sat and just looked at the world map and nothing is happening. I really thought that there would be more to this game and more events. 2 different world events is not enough, 1 World boss that spawn every 7 hour or w/e is not enough. Not one single event is always active at all time, you have to look else where and not in the game itself to know when and where the event will be. Stupid.

[@Merivio]

From an indie dev, I love how lucid the arguments are in this video. It touches on a lot of issues that I've felt for various games over the years. I repeatedly find that hardcore players have a better game design sense than a lot of designers out there.

[@ZacklFair]

It is the other way around. Hardcore Gamers / Fanboys will play until endgame no matter how bad the game is. It is the casuals that you are losing along the way, which makes up the majority of the Gaming Industry nowadays. Which, in the long run, means you will lose money if those are not enjoying the game until the end.

[@Arcolyte13]

The arguments are lucid, but they are spoken out of ignorance. About half of them are simply missing huge aspects of the game that they simply didn't see because of how much they didn't push. There are weak aspects to the game but few of them were mentioned here.

[@LifeForAiur]

@@ZacklFair I don't know if I entirely agree. PoE was made for the hardcore playerbase in mind and that game stands as an exemplary model for what arpgs can be. In a lot of ways it elevated the genre.

[@Orcawhale1]

@@ZacklFair Hardcore gamers arn't fanboys or vice versa. And no, you arn't losing money by not appealing to casual players. Because it all depends on the genre, and the type of game you're making. Not to mention the monetization implemented. So just stop with then nosense.

[@WolfHound911]

The big devs use a boring formulaic design - they put some bells and whistles on what they consider a cash register & the TOP franchises get worse over time since they lack innovation that respects what made the original title a success. _It feels like all the AAA publishers just want to create mobile style monetized games. Diablo 4 gets boring & it is hard to say that being a fan._

[@dumpymcdumpersin4115]

There were loadout slots in Diablo 3, they removed it from this game. The load out would not only load your set skills but also the armor and weapons you saved on that build, it would pull them from your stash. There also was more storage, d2 druid has more skills then the d4 druid. They removed all of these just so they can add them back in "seasons"

[@nikmidclayton5933]

Load out slots were added to d3

[@TheActMan]

WTF so they literally solved this issue in a previous game and just said "fuck it"

[@TheMeanJoeGreen]

how do you remove something from a game if It was never there? I think some people are missing the point that this is a live service game in its first month without a season even starting yet.

[@MrWyald]

That doesn’t make anything better. In fact it shows another of the mountain of reasons live service games are terrible that even basic features are considered “content” to be added later for additional cost. The idea of a constant updating game with ways to support it is fine but it fails with how the monetization comes before anything else.

[@TheMeanJoeGreen]

@@MrWyald they don’t charge for it or consider it content bozo. If you don’t like live service, great. But for someone to play 3 hours of a game that’s biggest catch is the endgame and always has been, it just sounds dumb when they say how bad it is.

[@imadeyoureadthis1]

7:41 that actually happens during the last expansion in wow. My 60 level characters do more % damage than my 70 level characters. The more levels you get the stronger the mobs become and the weaker you become. So at level 60 i can kill enemies fast and it gets slower and slower as i approach 70.

[@myselfthethird3393]

that was a very interesting take on the game ! have you ever played Titan quest ? because there are some pretty unique traits about that game that still stands out to this day . first one being this is the first game i've ever played that the merchant could provide items actually better than drops ! that was also the first game i've seen where you could control each summons/pets individually.

[@hibarikyoya854]

Titan quest and grim dawn are so good

[@jean-michelgilbert8136]

Diablo 1 was specifically not designed to fulfill a power fantasy. It was originally a roguelike in the style of Moria. The designer states in an interview that he resisted as long as possible implementing the real-time thing which he felt was being pushed on him. However, after he implemented it, he also states that it completely changed his vision for the game.

[@RogueAmarice]

Exactly. Having a power fantasy would run counter to the principles of a horror game/story, and Diablo 1 was very much that. When the video mentioned that the first game felt like an action RPG, but with a slower, more methodical pace, it also made me think of its turn-based roots. I wonder if maybe these small strategical aspects are something that spilled over into the real-time game that Diablo 1 ended up being. After all, it was basically a sped-up version of the turn-based original.

[@drygordspellweaver8761]

I can definitely see the turn based origins in D1. If you entered the wrong room or stepped on the wrong tile you were in trouble. Often, walking backwards and around was needed to lure out ranger attacks

[@MalekitGJ]

​@@drygordspellweaver8761playing D1 rn. I can really feel how different is from D2, it is more slow paced and really makes you think before acting. While D2 is more about Kill the Boss and Pull the Slot Machine, git gud and learn to better pace your skills. (Unless sorc LOL)

[@chillhour6155]

Regardless after all these decades the game still fkn slaps hard

[@dreadburnz3522]

My problems with D4 are more or less the same I had with D3. The pacing feels like you're meant to go from point A to point B as fast as possible without ever just...staying a while and listening.

[@Arcolyte13]

What was rushing you? It sure wasn't anything the game forced on you. Sure the story sounds urgent, because what else is a story to do than imply urgency but we've all become accustomed to games needing to be urgent and very few, for better or worse, actually punishing you for it.

[@C3l3bi1]

@@Arcolyte13 " It sure wasn't anything the game forced on you." you are right the game didnt force me to play it, so i simply didnt and unistalled, great argument.

[@lukebytes5366]

​@@Arcolyte13the better question would be what *wasn't* rushing them. Was there anything that really grabbed their attention from the main goal, was there a reason to do anything that wasn't what the story demanded? A question like that speaks far more for the pace of the game than this dumb rhetoric.

[@Arcolyte13]

@@lukebytes5366 what kind of ass backwards moonlogic is this? The player is the sole impetus for things being done, such as when they said they opted to do every activity for 40 levels or however long. Skewing their experience with their choices.

[@swardlertv1372]

Uh, that quote got me man 😅

[@dannyhunter607]

I fucking hate level scaling so much. I've hated since assassin's creed odyssey. That game was ass because of that exact bullshit he's referring to. By level 50, i felt like i was actually weaker than when i started. You explained this perfectly.

[@genericalias6307]

The big plot twist at the end of Diablo 1 is that the titanic, hard to kill baron of hell you just killed was possessing a literal child, and that you, a full grown adult wielding ancient artifacts and imbued with power, were about to be the next aspect. Bullshit D4's story was the darkest yet.

[@jeremyallen5974]

He obviously never paid attention to the fate of the mercenaries from the first game...

[@MuhammadAli-ul6hn]

I miss those days when we had offline singleplayer campaigns or open world games and if we wished we could go online for multiplayer matches rather then being forced to stay online 24/7 .

[@charaznable8072]

Go play those games then there are a decent amount of them. Grim Dawn and Last Epoch are pretty good.

[@MuhammadAli-ul6hn]

@@charaznable8072 I still have 86 in my collection I just wish they make new ones the same way.

[@munkqiking7207]

​@@charaznable8072How old are those games now? Not the next gen experience people were hoping for.

[@ShikiRyougi05]

e l d e n r i n g

[@burna2650]

Open world has been overdone.

[@cinderpox]

Just to give you another point about progression, there's a ranger at the beginning of the first Act in Diablo 2 that talks to you telling you that you seem weak and that the monsters ahead are much stronger, thus making you want to get a few more levels before crossing that line!

[@Ayrton_Chitwood]

Yeah, I talked to that ranger too, and then proceeded to walk right past her and beat everything in my path.

[@brandonvoice8941]

​@@Ayrton_Chitwood😂😂😂😂 She basically says that everytime you don't finish the first quest.

[@TheActMan]

Yep! Great point, I just remembered that

[@robnacho6286]

This dialog only triggers if you haven’t done Den of evil quest yet. It’s not level based.

[@goodoldaley6375]

To those who may not remember, Flavie can either tell you to get stronger, or tell you to finish Akara's quest first before entering the Cold Plains. I think they have their own seperate triggers 😄

[@mastersofsoftware614]

Exactly how I felt playing Diablo 3 - I played it like month ago and the feeling of "what is the reason of all this, when the enemies scale with me, I might as well ignore anyone and everything and just reach the bosses and finish the game asap" was EVERPRESENT. This totally stopped me from exploring anything on there, I was just not interested anymore - Because what was the point? Way to kill good games.

[@Leicarcain]

Everything feels quite small in Diablo IV. I found myself pondering why I should invest in purchasing a skin when I would be the sole observer of it. It's rather amusing because in the video at 9:06, the presenter was elaborating on character design and had to zoom in. I was playing on a 75-inch TV, and I was sitting less than a meter away.

[@maniacaldrop92]

My biggest issue is no offline play. Like I want to be able play the story without having to be online or needing always online.

[@user-jw5ve5ye5l]

Why...

[@maniacaldrop92]

Not everything needs to be online, but it's nice to be able to play if internet goes out, or if like in my case I just moved and it took the internet company forever to get me my installation which meant I was unable to play at all for about a month. But the real reason behind it is really just to include micro transactions and other stupid stuff no one asked for. But no forcing people to have online just to even play threw the story is dumb.

[@C3l3bi1]

@@user-jw5ve5ye5l because i like mods, or use it on a portable device, or being able to play once the servers shut down lol. or not to be forced into microtransactions when in a singeplayer games they wouldnt exist cuz people would just cheat in the skins anyways.

[@Mister-Thirteen]

@@user-jw5ve5ye5l Because some of us play games to unwind from interacting with people all day. When I was a kid and D2 came out I might have spent a fraction of the time on the Battlenet that I did on Single player. Mostly because I actually liked the story and themes of Diablo and wanted to take my time and enjoy it; rather then deal with a player base that ran on "Got to go Fast!" logic.

[@user-jw5ve5ye5l]

@@C3l3bi1 So you like to take the games and "mod" and cheat and altar the games, and you think that microtransactions dont exist in single player games. I can name 80 single player games with microtransactions all over IOS and android.

[@1un4cy]

I think my favorite NPC in the entire game is the exorcist in Kyovashad with the chalice, just because it was the most memorable for me. There's more to it than that first quest with the basement boy.

[@Shmandalf]

There actually are a few well-written side quests in the game, for sure. I liked the one with the under-appreciated daughter who has some kind of devillish powers, it became like a witch-hunt and you're constantly having to protect her from her own people turning on her. As someone who sometimes feels like a black sheep I related to the story a bit.

[@RachelRamdhan]

This mission gave me witcher 3 vibes ! A memorable mission for sure

[@Zeriel00]

I love how every saviour in the game is a woman and every victim is a man. Really revolutionary. The only time women die in this game is when they become the boss.

[@bebo76338]

Sister Octavia? She was DOPE! 🤯🤯 I was worried she was gonna die at the end... yeh, it cliché that she didn't, BUT i gave zero fucks! 😅❤

[@jippy8976]

And her quest line also really introduced a bit of the lore of the game. I’m not even a huge lore guy, but I appreciate that over generic quest stories.

[@JToPocHi]

I wanted to experience dread like I did D1. I'm pretty old so I don't really play most games for graphics or mechanics, I want an engaging story with interesting characters. Lilith in the intro gave me foreboding vibes, she was majestic, yet mysterious and gave me vibes that she is extremely dangerous. Then in later cutscenes, she starts to speak and she no longer gave me the same vibe as she did in the intro.

[@hellfire5108]

Blizzard had huge problems making the game design relevant even at D3. I remember when I started new characters there was no point in playing the campaign or leveling up on lower difficulties. You just made some weapons at Blacksmith with your main that had sockets, put the dmg socket in there so the weapon had HUGE dps and you grinded quests on the map on high difficulties to get better rewards and chests. So in the end it was just an endless grind and the fun was lost. I remember that I only played HC characters as that was exciting.

[@KeanuChrist]

You're so right about how you don't feel like you're getting stronger. Some of the gear I have, I've been using for the last 20 levels, and I'm level 96. The resistances are currently bugged in the game so they definitely feel worthless. The gold will feel more important later on when you suddenly spent millions and millions of gold in one minute trying to re-roll your gear in world tier 4. The thing is, that's all your gold will be used for...

[@watafumx]

People are rerolling gear? I'm 85 and still getting gear iPower 701 with 3 horrible stats. Ancestral with 3 good stats and 1 bad stat that you can reroll are rarer than a Yorin. Sorry, I meant a unicorn.

[@jonatanrobledo9812]

@@watafumx iPower sound more like a remote control battery that Apple would sell you for 5k a piece than the name of a RPG system.

[@id1550]

So I have a serious question, is this game really as bad as the title suggests, I’ve played it and thought the game was great. The only issues I have are the ones you’ve mentioned as well as some others but calling the game “so bad” is a little disingenuous. The gameplay was great, as well as the story. Some big changes need to be made for the loot though

[@awildmoose6541]

​@@id1550its a great game, people who are complaining do have some valid points, but stuff like "you get weaker!" is just stupid.

[@12XxXHandlesAreStupidXxX123]

​@awildmoose6541 ahh, the kind of gamer who enjoys typing their credit card number instead of gameplay...

[@Pleplerhep]

Id say the power fantasy was very much present in D1, but you had to earn it, getting the gear and trashing trough the parts of the game that gave you a hard time when you started made you able to play it over and over. Spamming that chain lightning while surrounded by mobs as mage once you were able to do it proper was the best feeling.

[@cl8804]

nah just had to pick shizzard

[@Ninjastahr]

D2 has it too, though it has a lot of other issues that annoy me

[@darkevilazn]

@@Ninjastahr Damage immunity is one of the worst things in D2.

[@Tom_Van_Zandt]

I don't remember what spell level maximized chain lightnings damage output, but you didn't want to max level it. Something about the graphics engine. It was one of the many weird quirks of Diablo 1, which is still one of the best games ever made.

[@TheActMan]

This is true!

[@bloodgorged]

The thing that annoys me, is the cosmetics I buy. I go to my in-game character, and the bloody thing is hunched over looking down at the floor, so I can't see the helmet or most of the armor.

[@ernestostrman5147]

I played season 1 like 50lvl. 2nd season am Barb lvl 80. I wanted to change build. What i need to change all paragons, skills, vampiric skills, gear manually? Which aspects i need, some of them sound the same i cant remeber which aspec i need for my build. Passives...wtf

[@JanstonCordell]

Remember those yellow zombies in Diablo 1 that permanently lowered your HP on hit? That shit shook me for decades; whenever I would first run into zombies in other action RPGs I'd get flashbacks and dispatch them carefully. I doubt Diablo 4 can offer such a memorable experience.

[@TheActMan]

WTF THEY LOWERED YOUR HP PERMANENTLY???

[@TheMTSilver]

@@TheActMan Some googling tells me that yes, they did. They're called Black Deaths and there's no way to reverse it. Goddamn.

[@cynicalgold9992]

older games were brutal lmao. the final boss of demon's souls has a grab attack that permanently steals a level from you if you get hit by it, it was wild. it's not quite as old as diablo 1, but followed older game design

[@janah6473]

Can you imagine the amount of bitching on reddit if diablo 4 did? Maybe you want this thrill, but you need to realize its IMPOSSIBLE to both cater to you and the broad audience.

[@JanstonCordell]

@@janah6473 I don't need a 1:1 recreation of this mechanic, just something that is equally memorable. That said, catering to the crowd that just wants things easier is going to kill gaming.

[@ncrtrooper6619]

*Patrolling the Mojave makes you wish for Blizzard to make good games again*

[@somehistorynerd]

Degenerates Like Blizzard Belong On A Cross

[@Occam601]

“We won’t go quietly, Blizzard can count on that”

[@Pilot914.]

hey that's my line!

[@morioh6623]

Its him!

[@jordanmiller7945]

I hate that some rpgs have adopted the no child left behind everyone gets a trophy nonsense with leveling up. It defeats the point of the game

[@mikurusagawa6897]

I think that one of the issues with modern game design is that technical limitations are no longer a thing for the most part. This means that if you want to add something, you most likely can. This can easily end up diluting everything into a bit of a mess. Back in the day you were much more limited, so you had to squeze out as much as possible from limited resource, which ended up making more memorable settings and characters

[@travismancour8538]

Oblivion had a mod that leveled with the player but it also limited how high a creature could level with you. That rat in the start, would only get to level 10 before you'd be able to put level it. Interesting that no other game adopted this way of leveling with the player.

[@exoria1098]

I actually had this exact idea in my mind watching this video. This would be a very good way of scaling

[@1un4cy]

You mean like if they made certain zones 1-30, or 20-40 instead of all of it going to 50-100? They DO however have a minimum level like 20-50 if you make an alt.

[@ejgrass04]

@@1un4cy I think they didnt just since they have to scale for dungeons and live events in every area. This is a good idea definitely. They would just need to keep dungeons, cellars and helltide the same at least. Live events would have to be the same or it would be too easy to farm obols in low level areas

[@XOmniverse]

Oblivion has lots of mods to fix the level scaling in various ways. You can basically season it to your specific tastes.

[@JustFeral]

Tons of older RPGs did this. I think the mechanic is taken from pen and pencil games like DnD.

[@tomato6553]

I 100% agree with the difficulty problem, it makes grinding for hours feel like waisted time because you spent so much time trying to get better and be prepared for an area

[@rihasanatrofolo2472]

They took that shi from WoW and thought it was a good idea. It was mid at best in WoW and not good to have at all in d4. Remove scaling with lvl pls

[@boyishdude1234]

Did they remove World Tier 2 after the beta? I played on Veteran during the beta for everything aside from the world boss and on my Rogue it was pretty rough in a lot of places, especially in dungeons. I think the problem with The Act Man on this particular subject is that he has a very old-fashioned idea of what difficulty is or should be. He measures how hard a game is based on how frequently it kills you, rather than on how much it tests your ability as a player. Ninja Gaiden will certainly kill you a lot, but it's not skill-based at all. Even highly experienced players regularly get killed unfairly in those games because they weren't designed to be easy when you know how. He also doesn't even understand that progression in Diablo is primarily loot-based, not level-based. If your gear is strong enough you will become overpowered compared to the content even when the enemies are the same level as you. The problem with Diablo 4's progression is that most of the loot sucks and does not make you meaningfully stronger. This certainly forces "difficulty", especially on higher world tiers, but it makes every combat encounter that isn't in the regular overworld state incredibly tedious and unfulfilling.

[@Marine5D]

I agree too, but i think it's a problem in every game with this scaling mechanic. First - its lazy. Second - you need to feel how you slowly become overpowered, maybe not in every zone, but you need to feel that you achieved something. Ofc its way harder to fine tune every area and it takes a lot of time in testing, but i wouldn't expect anything less from Blizzard (real Blizzard) and from triple A title.

[@WhatisAPaladin]

grinding for hours LOL have you not played diablo 2? or any diablo game as a matter of fact? dude the series is about grinding and gathering loot, its been like that since d1.. if the games too "Grindy" for you then why dont you fuck off and play something else? the choice is always there dude.

[@Destiny2isthebestever]

All these gamers just want the easiest game. It's so annoying.

[@YaBoiiMarz]

The worst part of all this for me is that ive never played a diablo game and while i never wanted to go out of my way to play one ive always thought that if a new one dropped id give it a go. Very glad i waited for reviews because this woudlve runied my interest in diablo

[@CharlemagneGuy127]

Same boat for me too, especially as I’ve seen so many Diablo clones over the years. Instead I got Diablo 2 Resurrection on Switch for like $7.

[@josefmacichek99]

You could gamble yellows and uniques in D2. I think yellows had 10% drop rate and uniques 1%. Gold was useful for this. I remember getting quite a few unique swords from Charsi.

[@zarthemad8386]

Charsi.... wasnt the gambling vendor

[@ignaciothefireborn-1985]

Gheed was the gambler in Act I. And the chance for uniques is 1/1000.

[@AndreBradshaw]

one of the things I really appreciate about Blizzard as an adult is that they don't try to tempt me to waste countless hours playing interesting games like they used to 20 years ago.

[@vanconojl]

xD

[@toddsmithmusic3172]

Maybe you grew up ?? LOL . Honestly modern gamers are spoiled, cry babies and YT creators feed your into your tears for a paycheck. It's that easy.

[@Bofum69]

I really get a lot done around the house because blizzard doesn’t make good games anymore. It’s probably for the best.

[@VVVY777]

D3 and Overwatch 2 really sealed the deal for me. This is not the Blizzard of our childhood. Yes, it's for the best.

[@JDubblesify]

They had mercy... They set us free

[@07m07]

36:18 “Bigger isn’t always better. Just ask my gargantuan penis.” That’s gotta be one of my favorite humblebrags I’ve heard.

[@mechbfp3219]

This is such a great review. Everything you said matches what I was thinking exactly. As a fellow single player RPG player I feel your pain.

[@overlordmae9090]

Agreed, going into Caelid early, finding dragon, trying it, dying horribly only to realize "i can kill that" and finally managing to do it 4h later was something else.

[@Damaxyz]

I had yet to see a Diablo 4 review that came this close to my personal experience - you literally nailed it.

[@xXFallout2]

As soon as I saw he was playing a Druid I knew right away he was going to hate this game lol.

[@bighomie7359]

doin tricks on it

[@twowheelunicycle8603]

@@xXFallout2I don’t understand this comment at all, I fucking love playing as a Druid.

[@ItsRayful]

@@twowheelunicycle8603 you play trash and enjoy it so it doesnt matter what trashcan youre sitting in while enjoying the trash. The guy you replied to is still in his "streamermoon-phase" where big streamers told him the game is awesome so since he can already see himself that its a shit game but cant go against his brain saying that the streamermoon-phase must be facts so hes delusionally picking out the one thing even the big sponsored streamers cant get past - the druid being shit to play - and latches on to that so his streamermoon-phase doesnt turn out false.

[@TheActMan]

Just doing my civic duty, sir! Glad you enjoyed it

[@user-oz7ky9ki5d]

They could have easily scaled enemies to player level by using a toggle switch naming it the looming darkness or eclipse or whatever but what they wanted was a easy way out

[@innergenichiro]

About the difficulty: shit that is under your level is brought up to your level but shit over your level stays over your level, for example i rushed through the story and got to lilith at level 39 so the fight was very fun and i died once in the second phase. The one complaint i have about the final boss though is that she doesnt have that many big attacks that look flashy and just hits you so its pretty much a dark souls boss without dark souls mechanics. I will say that i had a lot of fun with andariel, astaroth and the shrine keeper double boss.

[@raggynola]

I think you hit it spot on when you said "There is no sense of progression." I felt similarly after I beat the main story line. I did grind until level 82 before quitting but I didn't feel like continuing. I went back to D2R and have been endlessly grinding. Somehow an old game is way more enjoyable to me than this new one. The story also was a major disappointment.

[@TravisH-nm9fy]

Yeah I am shocked so many people say that they liked the story especially the climax. Inarius, this supposed badass angel who is hyped up throughout the entire game, just ends up being a cry baby and literally letting himself get stabbed in the back because hes not paying attention. Its fine to kill off Inarius but he should have been much, much harder to defeat.

[@liukang3545]

whole company is a dissapointment HAHA

[@uberfuchs]

I was not that terribly disappointed with the story. The ending is pretty meh, but I thought the rest of it was executed okay. Especially if you compare the game to Diablo 3. Honestly, I think this game should have been compared to Diablo 3 more than anything (as sad as that sounds).

[@SebHaarfagre]

@@TravisH-nm9fy Never once is Inarius "hyped up" in the story. "Not paying attention" Try connect some dots, maybe the campaign will be of more worth to some of you. Or did you want another Marvel movie?

[@mancamiatipoola]

To me, the talent tree and skill system as well as the UI felt very underwhelming in D4. How can you go from a game like D2R which was DONE RIGHT with good talent choices and a huge action bar full of skills, which could ALL be bound to keys, to an advanced game in the series which only has 5 skills on the action bar and a boring skill tree? They were trying to poach some of the players from Path of Exile, but that failed miserably since D4 is much more basic and uninteresting compared to all the mechanics and skill tree of Path of Exile. I mean they even made it more simplistic than D2R in gameplay, but bloated it with meaningless passive buffs, convoluted item stats and an end game talent system which is as shallow as a dried puddle. Instead of having such a restrictive talent system and UI, they should have just gone with the lessons learned from D2R and give players a large action bar full of skills and a more complex talent tree that can be respecced very easily to encourage players to experiment with different builds rather than corner them with only 2-3 cookie cutter builds with only the illusion of complexity. Sure that would have been harder to balance in PVP, but lets face it, most people play action RPGs for the single player and coop experience. All they had to do was take the talent tree and skill system of D2R and improve on that, giving players more choices instead of restricting them. For me, D4 is a hard pass and i would rather just raise another character in D2R, than buy this shallow game...

[@bikehunter82]

I am 40 years old. Been playing since the start... You nailed how I feel about this game. I legitimately felt that maybe it was just my age catching up to me or my taste simply changed. To hear you say everything I felt when playing this, made me realize I wasn't nuts. I originally purchased this game with the intention to really get into it... I have yet to finish the campaign, simply due to not giving a crap. I do not want to play it anymore. I sadly found other games to enjoy. For people like me who has seen what the Diablo series has become, this is genuinely sad. It is all about Diablo Immortal mobile garbage or Fortnight garbage. I thank Diablo 4 for being the reason I am moving on from Blizzard. This was your last shot with me. Not that you truly care Blizzard, as you bathe in champagne and underage women with your dirty mobile money.

[@dreamsdeep1076]

Play quality indie games. Tags feature helps you find games that you are looking for. Aaa games sucks nowadays with a few exceptions every year

[@WolfHreda]

If you haven't gotten into Path of Exile yet... Maybe don't. It's like Diablo on crack. But it's also free, so there's that.

[@Tejyasn]

I'm in the same boat. I got through my first playthrough and just.. stopped... Sure I tested some of the other characters to see what nifty stuff they offered, but there is no real draw to keep coming back and grinding those paragon levels. About all I have left on my one character is a personal pride in "complete all side quests" type thing, but even the dungeons are static and not the randomized "I have no idea what the map looks like" of prior titles.

[@brandonharrison7773]

I was interested in buying Diablo 4, this video dissuaded me. Thank you for helping me save my money.

[@grimlinx6754]

trust me its a good thing you haven't finished the campaign, the end game is grindy, hunting loot and rerolling stats to try make the best meta build. also, PVP is almost non existant but apparently you get better loot there than nightmare dungeons, plus the usual god like build character that one shots you with all you top tier gear on

[@DainRiffgin89]

One of the earliest warning signs was when one of the Devs said that, "It's ok to stop playing until Season 1 drops", when the game wasn't even a month old. If I made a game I was proud of, I would be hoping that players wouldn't be able to put it down. I would say, "You think the game is awesome now, just wait till Season 1 drops!" I did enjoy my time as a Poison Werewolf Druid, up until the point that I was going through Nightmare Dungeons, trying to upgrade the nodes, heading towards Tier 4, when I realized: There is nothing else to do except Nightmare Dungeons, and they are the same dungeons over and over. I was quickly getting bored and demoralized realizing that I would have to do this over and over again. Plus when most of your gear is "It has a few stats I like, but the rest of it is worse than what I got, so it's no good" or "it has the stats I want, but it doesn't support my build, yet again, so it's junk" I stopped caring. Also gems went from being "Nice! This will upgrade my gear to maximize the stats I need!" to "Wait, there is nothing that upgrades my crit chance or damage unless it is CC'd? What? Forget it, I'll just stick with the DoT gem..." They made gems pointless. And the fact that there is only two full CG cutscenes (which are beautiful as all Blizzard cutscenes are) felt cheap. Diablo 3 had CG Cutscenes for the beginning of each new act (with one of my favorites being Azmodan's "You thought you were so clever" scene), and while Reaper of Souls only had one, that one made an impact, quickly establishing Malthael as a force to be reckoned with. Even the bosses in D4 aren't as memorable as D3: Act 1 of D4 is essentially a Blood Bishop, compared to The Butcher in D3. You even have a side fight with Duriel, one of the Lords of Hell in D4, and you never mention it to anyone afterward! Why?! Wouldn't that be the perfect opportunity to tell Lorath, "Hey, btb, I just fought ANOTHER Lesser Evil, just so you know". But one of my biggest gripes is that the upgrade system in the Skill Tree is poorly done. The different modifiers can add some interesting effects, but when you realize that putting points into the skills themselves has a negilable impact on damage, it makes it feel very shallow. Even the Paragon system, which was cool to a point, I found it was so tedious to go through and upgrade that even the cool abilities I got wasn't exactly worth it. I really wanted to like D4, but I just couldn't, not after everything. I played a ton of D3, and got a number of characters to max level, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't be bothered to get even my Druid to level 70. It really is a shame...

[@Shpetz]

"Name one blacksmith." and now nearly half a year after its release this question hits really hard. I could name every single one in d2 and all the townsfolk in D1 and D2. Another thing about the game that was relatable to this is the soundtrack, there was nothing at all memorable from Diablo 4, first off the music was great and is befitting to its environment but nothing sticks out, there is just no soul in the game. Diablo 1 and 2 on the other hand had top tier soundtracks that I can remember to this day damn near 30 years later thanks to Uelmen.

[@vnshngpnt]

Kyovashad theme is the only more or less unique piece in the whole game

[@KillerTacos54]

I completely agree with the level scaling point. I never understood the complaint about Elden Ring, for example, about wanting each enemy to be scaled according to your current level. It's satisfying running through an earlier segment of the game and one-shotting all the enemies you once struggled with. I'll never understand the complaint some people have about it being a bad thing

[@johnathanversteeg3666]

The bad thing is when you go back to do old stuff having to even engage with a mob you can just sneeze at to kill becomes tedious and boring. Kinda the problem wow had, where going to do world quests was very tedious cause you'd always agro shit you can just one shot so it did kill the enjoyment, but with a little scaling you have to work for it. It's difficult to scale correctly though because I 100% agree you should feel stronger as you go, but if you completely trivialize mobs then it eventually gets boring.

[@Kingeptacon]

@@johnathanversteeg3666Completely disagree. Thank God From Software aren’t dumb enough to fall into that trap.

[@reginlief1]

@@johnathanversteeg3666how can that be MORE tedious than having to spend a few minutes killing said mobs? The game is making it easier for you to breeze through areas your backtracking through.

[@Dragonfury3000]

That's the whole point of leveling

[@ArDeeMee]

@johnathan You can literally ignore all mobs and only fight bosses. Always have been, always will be. There are tons of no-hit, 1st level, naked runs. No glitches, no tools, just practice. If you can’t figure out how to run past an enemy, that’s on you.

[@angrychef9693]

I think one of the main issues with games today (and blizzard is a great example for that) is that Games arent made by Gamers anymore. Every release just has one goal, profit. Its pretty rare to see a new release where you can feel how much love went into the game. Elden Ring, Valheim or Disco Elysium especially where such Games. Id love to see you review that game.

[@IveBeenWithBruma]

Well Blizzard lost the core of their Diablo team over the course of its lifetime. So it's not odd how d4 feels vastly different compared to prior games.

[@agwzh]

Disco Elysium is such a killer game.

[@enriquepelenato4956]

Nailed it mate. Came here just to say exactly that. I try telling my friends this same fact and they don't wanna hear it lol. Then less than 2 months later they tell me the $100 game they bought suddenly got boring and they can't be fucked playing anymore.. and this happens over and over and over again, they fall for the next game like a fish on a hook. I really believe it's because they've never played a good game in their life and don't know how to spot the signs. I've saved a lot of money as a result and watched consumers get disappointed at their games over and over again lol

[@MightyManotaur22]

Those types of games are still common in the indie space, but you're 100% right when it comes to AAA. Even when I think about my favorite AAA games from the past few years (Ghost of Tsushima, God of War Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc), the things about them that are the best are rarely the actual video game parts. It's more about the spectacle, characters, story, music, and visuals. Nothing today hits like Bioshock or Final Fantasy X or Mass Effect 2 when it comes to having the full package -- with CREATIVITY and PASSION.

[@kyledavis4325]

​​@@enriquepelenato4956 don't think D4 is a great game. That being said, paying 100 bucks for a game and being done with it in a couple of months used to be the norm. I'm an older head, and all the great SNES games could easily be beaten in a couple of months (often times less) and they were $50-60 games, which with inflation damn near equals $100 in today's money.

[@tehsarr0w]

39:34 I thought I knew everything with my 20k d3 hours but that invisible watch just made me feel the song playing

[@brothamane8747]

This vid was on point in all aspects especially regarding the immersion factor and copy/paste aspect of every area of the game. There is no sense of immersion or progression because everything feels and looks the same from the beginning of the game till the end.

[@jamiebasarab7409]

Small minor complaint i found was, they have all these side quest and dungeons, but there is no quest log to tell you which ones you have completed. Making figuring out what you have done when try to 100% the game a chore

[@rushkovski]

100%ing a game is a literal chore

[@jamiebasarab7409]

This is true but it doesn't need to be made worse by a simple fix that the previous game had.

[@SC2Barbarian]

especially when a lot of quests get randomly dropped from enemies this is annoying

[@lazzer4996]

Thank you for making this so that asmongold doesn’t run out of content 🙏🏻

[@pierreo33]

Can't wait for asmon to stretch this video to 2 hours

[@nobushidono9897]

@@pierreo33 Can't wait for him to do a 180 and start agreeing with The Act Man, when he thinks Diablo 4 is actually a good game.

[@Fumble469]

@@nobushidono9897 asmon critisizes the fuck out of diablo 4.

[@nobushidono9897]

@@Fumble469 Yet, still plays it.

[@yaz5300]

@@nobushidono9897 just cause you like something doesn't mean you can't criticize it.

[@jacekicksass]

Your comments summed this up perfectly.. .I got to level 25 and couldn't work out why I was so bored, and losing my motivation to play.

[@Chrisonix_la_furra]

Diablo 3 has more active players than diablo 4

[@ryuno2097]

Man, D1 is such an awesome game. Hearing Tristram music brings back so much nostalgia, I feel like I'm ported back to 97 ,enjoying the game for the first time and getting the shit scared out of me when I opened the door to the Butcher's room.

[@mattjohnson8585]

D1 and 2 - the best (and only, for me) Diablo games

[@tehevilmouse]

“FRESH MEAT!”

[@nbHawkeye]

Diablo 1 also wasn't actually made by Blizzard, at least most of it, they bought the company that had made the game and added some things to it.

[@GraveUypo]

the only reason it's not that nostalgic and doesn't transport me anywhere is because this game is a fucking constant in my life. my last play through of it was 3 months ago. it was actually belzebub, the HD mod thing, but it's still diablo 1 just the same.

[@nocturneuh]

Amen to this 🙏

[@skycub99]

I remember specifically in final fantasy 4 after you got your air ship there was this tiny little inconspicuous island that had the hardest enemies in the game and gave way more xp than even the areas leading up to the final battle. The most fun I remember having in that game was walking in tiny circles for hours to get into random battles with crazy enemies way too early in the game just so I could get all my spells/skills and tons of money so that the rest of the game I was god mode. Did everyone play that way? I highly doubt it because I would die a lot, so much dying, but the game didn't make that call for me thankfully. It said "HAHA! good luck kid!" with a knowing smirk and let me get my ass handed to me till I either changed my plan or got strong.

[@ZacklFair]

Not allowed in D4

[@voided76]

@@ZacklFair lol just keep in bottom tier casual mode and play how you wanna play. D2 was incredible. this is just casual, and that actually suits me currently.

[@josephk1375]

FF7 as soon as you leave Midgar, you come across the Marshes and the Midgar Zolom which will fucking wreck your party endlessly. By design, the game sort of encourages you to try your luck and when you get your "game over" there becomes a new undocumented quest to come back when you're stronger, defeat the Midgar Zolom, and see what he's guarding. It's brilliant game design, there is a direct indication of progression, there is a huge sense of accomplishment once you're able to defeat the Zolom and get Beta. Diablo 4 has absolutely nothing like this.

[@KoiKoy56]

You can literally do this in D4. You don't need an air ship, you can walk there. I don't understand this take.

[@KoiKoy56]

​@@josephk1375that's true, but content like this would not work in a game that has a hardcore mode. Granted, hardcore mode sucks right now, point still stands. Not to say it's bad in FF, it is pretty cool, it just doesn't belong in a Diablo game. Wouldn't make sense.

[@TheOneGreat]

Reminds me of Final Fantasy XVI. I was bored out of my mind by how easy the game was. But of course you only unlock the higher difficulty after you play the game. Why is boring yourself through a game a thing? Why can't I start on hard immediately? Just let me change it mid-game if I feel like I made a mistake.

[@althausz1]

Something about the camera angle felt off from the very beginning

[@sethgardner4297]

The scaling killed this game for me. I never once felt I was getting more powerful. Even fully maxing my equipment, it still took three hits to kill the basic enemy in the first level just like it did when I started the game

[@nerdtok_official]

I mean, at level 100 i one-shot level 125 mobs and elites constantly. People just dont know how to make a good build.

[@sethgardner4297]

@@nerdtok_official I’m not gonna grind to get to 100 to one shot most mobs

[@jeuan]

I didn’t play WoW but I remember playing Final Fantasy XI where different players can chain their skills into a combo and create massive damage to high level monsters. That was a great way to get players talking to each other and interact / bonding. The mobs would have different elemental affinities and weaknesses so the party needs to decide which combos to use, which also are limited by the job and weapons etc.

[@justinendicott9213]

FFXI was so great back in the day. Chaining weapon skills and creating magic bursts was so much fun.

[@jeuan]

@@justinendicott9213 Yes, and it taught players not to just smashing their hit buttons but need to wait, observe, and time their hits or the skillchain / magicburst will break. The player interactions are so much more important to the survival of the team.

[@SGMTAX]

I find it weird not having able to find an auto-party system in D4 where I could pair up with strangers just for any dungeon fight or even Hell Tides. Then my clan mates told me . "oh you could easily find it on Discord" ..... then there is this chat box system, i feel like the game could at least allows me to pin it to my screen instead of auto-hide after a while which pisses me off a bit.. but of course..Nobody is talking or asking for help in the chat channel..anyway which is so strange for an online MMORPG game that are so popular compared (In the beginning) to the others.

[@duckheadbob]

19:00 i will say that later on that is the changes you do. You gain gear effects that allow you to make a lightning werewolf, or a earth werebear - that is the late game customization to be honest, so clearly they didnt hold you long enough to experience what you were looking for that was in the game (and you can technically do it from the start too? Its just not optional.) But i will say it makes it even harder to respect as you now need to remake your skill tree, paragon board AND have the gear to match the new build.

[@bexxterk2142]

Good for you for making your own opinion and not just going with everyone else’s

[@daniellllla]

you havent watched the video yet

[@VEN0M415]

@@daniellllla No one has at this moment haha.

[@robertseptim3579]

What’s everyone else’s?

[@davidsplooge14]

@@robertseptim3579 real curious about this one

[@catodes1295]

​@@robertseptim3579 A lot of Destiny players are getting into Diablo 4, for some reason. I know this because every other day there's a Diablo post in my FB Destiny group. They are also saying that it's a great game. Never played any Diablo game since 2 but if they like it, then sure, whatever makes them happy

[@prossnip42]

One of the most satisfying things about leveling your charatcer in Fallout 3 and New Vegas is that by the time you're level 30 a group of raiders attacking you which within the first 5 levels was tense and wasted your resources are now just barely even a nuisance, just some free xp for you to take. That should be the point of leveling, to make the earlier challenges a breeze. You know, progression!

[@timberIII]

I really don't get why modern games that use leveling did away with that

[@AndreyGP]

I hate what you just described, it makes the rest of the game pointless. I actually like level scaling because then there is a game to play all the time, and not just weak trash mobs that are completely pointless.

[@Jay9966]

@@AndreyGP Just restart your game every 2 hours, you get the same experience as a scaling rpg. What OP describes works for most rpg players because we want to BE powerful, there CAN be challenges but not the same amount of challenge always.

[@marks7484]

​@@AndreyGP I think there should be a mix of both, where due to leveling up your arsenal expand and equipment upgrades make it somewhat simpler to kill lower level enemies. An early game boss can still beat you in couple hits with his club, but by this point you already have a shotgun than can k.o. him in a few hits from close range, making it satisfying to progress but not too much pushover. Another way would be slight ability upgrade to common enemies that allow them to dunk you if you are reckless.

[@pianospawn1]

@@AndreyGP that’s why they introduce harder enemies later in the games…

[@giorosiles2220]

It’s so great to watch your videos again on the first say of school.

[@r.s.fletcher7066]

This is my first Diablo game, I started playing a few days ago, and I am hooked. I'm sure old fans are disappointed for a variety of reasons. As a newbie, I wouldn't know with the novelty of the franchise(for me). I can say one thing for certain: As someone who's not too familiar with the genre, except ESO, the game isn't bad in and of itself, if you don't really have anything to compare the experience to. The main campaign is so compelling to me, it slightly taps into my love for darker, somber atmosphere and theme(like fromsoftware's souls games did).

[@marting.9613]

Yeah if you have no comparison it probably is not so bad. To me, the rankings of Diablo games are Diablo >> Diablo 2 >>>>> Diablo 3 >>>>>>>> Diablo 4. It's just disappointing to see the series go down instead of up. It seems so easy to not mess up, yet Blizzard always does.

[@r.s.fletcher7066]

@@marting.9613 I've heard Path of Exile substitutes really well, where D4 is lacking, but that you need a "degree" for the passive tree😭😂

[@Malenia_BOM]

Act man is just a D2 fanboy that wants to impose his mentality on other people. I tried D2 resurrected and almost fell asleep. This man just doesn’t understand that there are people that aren’t sheep.

[@marting.9613]

I want to say that I actually changed my mind! Diablo4 is actually probably the best in terms of gameplay and graphics. Itemization is not so great but they are working on it. Here's a new, more reasonable ranking, of the best game per categories: - Impact for its time: D1 - Itemization: D2 - Ambiance : D1 - Graphics: D4 - Gameplay: D3 = D4 - SoundFx = D4 - Music = D1 or D4 - Quality of Life: D4 - World Design: D4 I think that if they continue working on D4 it will be the best game in the Diablo series.

[@r.s.fletcher7066]

@@marting.9613 Fresh seeing your thinking so flexible

[@tkim90]

The game never changed for me from level 30-82. Every level gain felt the same

[@DarknessDragoon212]

Sorta like most rpgs and jrpgs

[@dougbutabi5085]

@@DarknessDragoon212Not Oldschool RuneScape, still the best mmorpg ever

[@SkitzSkitzVids]

Were you carried? Because how? Did you forget to put skill points in? Did you use the uniques in your builds? Did you utilize your paragon tree at level 50? Did you do nightmare dungeons? Like, higher than the early nightmare dungeons? Did you… Play the game?

[@tkim90]

@@SkitzSkitzVids dude this game isnt hard. Ya got my ice boots and everything. The game doesnt change level to level. Its the same every level there is no progression. Its boring. Who gets carried in this easy ass game? U can rofl stomp everyone but uber lillith.

[@Warbaman]

Between lvl 68 and 71 its like a different game for me... just 1 new aspect changed the entire gameplay

[@KarlRock]

Thanks for the honest review, as usual. I gave it an hour and it didn’t really grab me. I’ll give it another try when I’m in the mood.

[@jimmyngo2191]

Wow, the legendary KarlRock!

[@HerenLadon2707]

Hello karl, nice to see you here 😊

[@shirrshsrivastava1486]

Ram ram Karl bro🫡

[@Froggeh92]

Campaign is great. Everything after fucking sucks so much

[@genocidegrand2057]

give path of exile a try! more depth more builds more economy and so many mechanic to play with. they are making poe2 but the knowledge and lots of mechanic from poe1 will stay!

[@SwiftNimblefoot]

13:05 - Diablo II Resurrected shows well how Diablo II was dark, BUT colorful too. Because monsters looked creepy, yes, and everything was full of gore and bones, but the environments were not bland colors. Look at the harem under Lut Gholein, the orange and black of the Chaos Sanctuary's cathedral, the greens of the Travincal. Diablo IV instead has everything be brown, red and grey. Most monsters are this color too. Show me one blue or green creature in the game. Show me one that uses more than one shade of color. It is so... drab.

[@nerfisepic]

Can anyone tell me what the sound effect at 4:06 is? Driving me crazy

[@filenotfoundyt]

Its the thwomp from super mario 64

[@nerfisepic]

@@filenotfoundyt God bless, thanks!

[@alexanderclifford5876]

If you keep the screen zoomed in on the player's character it can help highlight the cosmetics you've paid for on that character. Preventing people from zooming out to a comfortable level helps boost store engagement / profit.

[@gazzam3172]

BS :0, you can zoom out miles in WOW and numbskulls still buy that shit!

[@campbellsoup93]

I was thinking it was an ambiance thing. Like, the closer camera makes it feel more claustrophobic which increases tension. But thst might be too big brain for these devs.

[@Srevengel]

​@@MrFultonian I'm sorry, but your theory makes no sense. It's 2023, they absolutely can render enough to not make the game feel crammed.

[@Gardosuro]

@@Srevengel Not if their shitty servers can't handle rendering enemies or NPCs 5 feet away, I've been stuck in so many invisible walls that prevent me from going forward until the next "chunk" loads it's ridiculous, I bet it's zoomed it just to prevent seeing stuff pop in, which yes is ridiculous and I am not excusing that, but it would be my guess.

[@Srevengel]

@@Gardosuro Small indie company :)

[@jackcoleman1784]

I just wanted to add that IIRC Oblivion and Skyrim also have a few enemies that are static level to create voluntary difficulty spikes and later power fantasy opportunities. In Skyrim the first ice troll on the mountain and the giants are two examples from my memory. As I remember it the giants are something like static level 20. Which is why they typically one shot you and send you flying across the map the first time you see them and pick a fight with them.

[@ch.kv.]

Yep I still remember standing on a cliff edge, and firing hundreds of arrows from my under-geared character to kill my first giant in Skyrim - the difficulty curve definitely made for some memorable battles.

[@palp8623]

I remember the first time I was yeeted by a giant. I thought the game broke

[@jackcoleman1784]

@@palp8623 From what I've been told technically it did. The yeet was originally a bug but Bethesda thought it was so funny and fitting they left it in the game.

[@nightshadesalad]

The different regions in D4 do have minimum lvl recommendations. You can't go to the act 3 area at lvl 1 and hold your own because the enemies are like 30 levels higher than you. So that part of his complaint isn't really sound. I do agree that the scaling difficulty is dumb, at least pre lvl 50 or before you unlock t3. Damage is mostly dependent on your gear, so enemy scaling makes it so you never really feel powerful early on. You can over level and cream a boss because they level up with you, and gear is kinda trash until you get close to the end of the game.

[@foreignuser_]

@@LTNetjak this guy has the real answer. scaling is trash. they took an epic adventure in Diablo, and turned it into a theme park

[@ethandagenais5652]

In my personal experiance i had fun with the game. You get the most choices for dificulty when doing nightmare dungeons on tier 4 when you can out scale your characters level by how ever much you choose. I stopped playing the game pretty much because at level 100 with everything maxed and near perfect gear for my build, it felt like my options to progress were to build a new character or farm for gear for another build on my current character and both of those options just seemed boring. There just isnt any late game content that makes getting to level 100 worth it.

[@njikki]

I'm still struggling in D2R at Hell difficulty with sorcerer

[@ceu160193]

Nice to see, that someone still remembers Divinity. Though it probably has way too strong summons - to the point, where some areas of the game could be cleared without your character taking a single hit, letting summons take the beating.

[@Mythodyn]

Play Warrior like a man then, you pansy summoner.

[@Missingno14]

I just wish the provoke ability actually worked consistently. Worst taunt in any game I've seen which makes tank builds a little less interesting. Still a fantastic game though.

[@freyrgrimsson4607]

You could also curbstomp nearly everything with elementalists or archers or an ungodly mix of shadowblade and witch

[@Dom4z]

Counter argument for OP summons: game is designed to be fun. It's also singleplayer game that has no competition/esports attached to it. It's meant to be enjoyed in any way possible. Therefore, it is the players choice how they want to play the game. If something is too OP, you have the choice to not use it. Which is better than something being trash and completely unusable. 😊

[@ceu160193]

@@Dom4z True. Physics at times can be wonky - I will forever remember that day we tried to move death fog crate towards unsuspected enemies and it broken, killing us.

[@Killabeastaholic]

Blizzard is addicted to disappointing people at this point

[@Tom_Het]

we're well into the 21st century and still need to remind people that commercial success doesn't correspond to intrinsic value

[@AndragonLea]

I think the level scaling really hurt this game. Half the reason items feel worthless is because, thanks to level scaling, item improvements are needed to KEEP STEP with the enemy. Finding an amazing axe doesn't matter because 3 levels down the line the enemies will catch up with you or, even worse, they overtook you because you just didn't have good RNG and no weapon upgrade dropped so the "upgrade" is really just getting you back to a level playing field. In PoE, if you find a weapon with the right stats, slots and links, you get a massive spike in damage. Suddenly enemies get one-shot, you get more projectiles, your spells chain, you gain massive leech making your gameplay so much more fluid, the list goes on. You will eventually level out again but that happens because YOU decide to tackle tougher content for the better rewards, not because the monsters on the same map gradually gain more and more stats until that item you found and that was so impactful for you ceases to be relevant again. It's like if being promoted to the level of your incompetence was a game.

[@spookyturbo1618]

On the note of level scaling: "You don't have to worry about your buddy who has played for 600 hours one shotting everything" Yes, yes you do.

[@angel_of_rust]

inclusivity is the real enemy tbh. like what's the point of being higher level then

[@chronosschiron]

@@angel_of_rust none

[@maonmanak]

Just shows how far he really made into the game cause I definitely handle creatures better with different build and loot

[@Orion-rl7js]

I love how they released a statement regarding the stash debacle - "We want to get this right, and it's going to take some time..." Which just means they didn't count on the backlash from the very beginning of how low it was, and that they planned to monetize it from day 1, but got caught in this conundrum after people were saying that was their intention all along, so now they are trying to sandbag the issue by delaying it further...Just more corpospeak

[@interdimensionalsteve8172]

Or, you know, Occam's Razor? Do you have any idea how complicated the balancing is for a game like this? It's quite possible it WILL take time to fix any problem like this due to balancing issues having to go through 50 people.

[@hombreg1]

​@@interdimensionalsteve8172 use occam's razor. If a limitation is put into a game that requires the hoarding of loot, it's likely purposeful. The explanation that uses the least amount of assumptions is that they did it on purpose given that; one, they're aware of the stash and two, played the game at some point.

[@Midg-td3ty]

I dont even have stuff to put in the stash because its all worthless garbage.I dont even feel like picking up legendaries.

[@ShaneMcGrath.]

@@interdimensionalsteve8172 There is no balancing, It's just stash space to store more things! I bet they want to either monetize it or make it like D3 where each season if you complete the journey you gain extra stash slots, If it's the second one I don't mind but if it's spend real money then F Blizzard.

[@nFs-Naz]

They looked at PoE and went.. " OI !!! They are selling stash tabs ??!!! Noice we doing that too !! " take time add stash tabs ? if they are going to take ages for that might as well forget thinking that more important issues will ever see a resolution then..

[@slightlybob9680]

In light of baldurs gate 3 the lack of abilities you can use is staggering, I mean c’mon sure the character has a limited number of uses for the I can cast during each combat but it doesn’t hide any abilities from me. I have to make a strategic decision on what spells I want to use, imo that decision is critical and the things I have available to me are what make the game hit like a line of coke… I don’t even own D4 and seeing the limited spell UI makes me glad I don’t.

[@zakkwylde951]

I love the fact when you were talking about level scaling I started to remember Oblivion.. and then you mentioned it! :D Loved this video, I am a bit ashamed I found it so late.